This Coug says: Bravo, UW, but enough already

By JIM MOORE, SPECIAL TO SEATTLEPI.COM

Published 10:00 pm, Monday, March 22, 2010

In case you're wondering, I was wrong about the Huskies and I've been eating crow, a lot of it, for breakfast, lunch and dinner and between-meal snacks. Unfortunately it doesn't taste just like chicken.

Several weeks ago I wrote a column that mocked the Dawgs for thinking they still had a shot at the NCAA tournament and predicted they would end up in a bogus postseason basketball event called the CBI. It made sense at the time -- Washington was 3-5 in the Pac-10 and couldn't win on the road.

I twice asked Lorenzo Romar if he still thought he had an NCAA tournament team, and he twice responded "yes" without hesitation. I remember thinking, "yeah, right" because the Huskies looked like a dysfunctional, disjointed outfit to me.

Now they're suddenly hell on wheels. They've won nine in a row. They breezed through the Pac-10 tournament. They rallied from 15 down to beat Marquette in the first round of the NCAA tournament and walloped New Mexico to advance to the Sweet Sixteen. Nothing seems out of reach for the Dawgs anymore.

"This is a Final Four-caliber team," New Mexico Coach Steve Alford said after the Huskies crushed his third-seeded Lobos.

Still sounds ludicrous to me, but not as ludicrous as it would have in January or even last week before March Madness began.

Washington plays second-seeded West Virginia on Thursday. For those of us who aren't drinking the purple Kool-Aid and never will, you'd think that the run ends here -- the Mountaineers would seem to have the superior team.

But here's the thing -- it's not as clear-cut as it used to be. West Virginia is only a 4 ½-point favorite over Washington, and I'm here to tell you, 4 ½-point favorites lose all the time -- especially when I bet on them, which will probably be the case on Thursday.

If the Huskies beat West Virginia -- I can't even believe I'm typing this as a plausible hypothetical -- they'd face Cornell or Kentucky next. If it's Cornell, they might be favored to make it to the Final Four. If it's Kentucky, the new favorite to win it all now that Kansas is out, they'll be a longshot to win the East Region.

But all of this stuff is alarmingly possible if the Huskies continue to play the way they have in the last few weeks. Let me say this about that -- I tip my cap to Romar and all of the players; you guys have been terrific. I've been thoroughly impressed.

If you make it to the Final Four, I'm sure it will be a dream come true for each and every one of you. And if you make it, you will have no doubt beaten Kentucky, and a win over Kentucky would suggest that you can win the whole damn thing, and if that were to happen, God help us all -- this whole run of yours has been a bad dream already for me, but a national championship would be the biggest nightmare ever.

Honestly, I'm torn. There are different kinds of Coug fans -- some want the Huskies to lose in every sport no matter what -- they even root against the Dawgs in crew and ultimate Frisbee.

Then there are those who really can't stand the Husky football team but are more tolerant of the basketball team and don't mind it too much when the U-Dub hoopsters win. They might even privately root for them.

Then there are also Coug fans who root for the Husky football and basketball teams except when they play Washington State. I know this about them -- they don't bleed crimson like I do.

I guess I'm in the second camp. I don't want the Husky football team to do well, but I don't necessarily wish ill will on their hoop team. I like Romar and Quincy Pondexter too much to hope that they lose.

I felt bad for Romar yesterday when he told reporters: "If I don't ever experience a Final Four, that UConn game will always haunt me."

He was referring to the 98-92 OT loss to Connecticut in the Sweet Sixteen four years ago in a game that Washington should have won in regulation. So it would be nice to see him get another shot with this team.

Then again, I'm conflicted because I'm not an Isaiah Thomas or Venoy Overton fan -- they just drive me batty, Thomas with his mugging for the cameras and salutes to the crowd and Overton with his constant gnat-ness on the floor; I want to pull out a fly swatter every time I see him.

The rest of the team, I don't have strong feelings about one way or the other. But then you've got Husky fans to consider, and one thing I'll say about them -- no one in the country can jump on a bandwagon as well as they do.

I was at Interbay Golf Course on Saturday and saw all kinds of people in purple and wondered if I would have seen the same scenery if Marquette had knocked them out of the tournament last Thursday. My answer: Of course not.

Inside the pro shop, someone noticed that I was a Coug and asked me if I was rooting for Washington against New Mexico. "Not really," I said.

"Why not?" the guy wondered. "You're not rooting for the Pac-10?"

That's another dilemma, because I do root for the Pac-10. I get tired of continual criticism of this conference. I get sick of guys like John Feinstein writing in the Washington Post that the Huskies wouldn't finish 10th in the Big East.

So yes, I do root for the Pac-10 and was pulling hard for Cal against Duke, but I just can't bring myself to actively and physically root for the Dawgs.

On Sunday I watched part of the NCAA tournament on a flat screen in the bar of Canyons Restaurant in Redmond.

"How are the Cougs doing in the tourney?" the wise-guy bartender asked after noticing my WSU sweatshirt.

Ha ha, never heard a Coug joke like that one before.

When the Huskies tip if off with West Virginia at 4:27 Thursday afternoon, I'll be watching with mixed feelings. In the back of my mind, I'll be thinking that Washington could be this year's version of George Mason, an 11th seed that made it to the Final Four in 2006.

I'll be thinking that I won't be surprised if the Huskies win, and I'll be happy for Romar if they do. I'll be thinking that I wish I had bought a ticket on the Huskies to win the national championship before the tournament began when the odds were 250-1 -- they're 35-1 now.

But I'll also be thinking that after so much crow, I'm ready for a dessert of Mountaineer Madness -- there's still too much crimson and gray in me to want the Huskies to cut down the nets in Indianapolis on April 5.

Diplomatically speaking, congratulations, guys, on a great season but for this Coug, it's gone on long enough.